>> Jayme Pendergraft: Good afternoon everyone. This is Jayme Pendergraft with NDI Consulting and I would like to welcome you to today's webinar. Today's webinar is titled Ticket to Work: Debunking the Three Biggest Myths about Disability Benefits and Work. We're very excited to have everyone here and are happy to provide some information on Ticket to Work during today's webinar. To access today's webinar, some of you are logged in on your computer; you can also dial in using our toll-free number. That number is 1-855-244-8681 and the access code for today is 669456420. You should also have received an accessible PDF and a text only document in the email you got when you received your login information. I will also be chatting that information out through the chat box during today's webinar in case you'd like to access it that way. We do strive to have all of our webinars be accessible as possible. We are always looking for new suggestions about how to make your accessibility experience better, so please feel free to let us know if you have any suggestions. We will have real time captioning during today's webinar. To access the captioning you can visit the following link and it is a bit long so please bear with me. The link for today's closed captioning is http://www. Captionedtext. Com/client/event. Aspx?customerid= 846&eventid= q839624 and Nakia has chatted that out to everyone so feel free to click on there in the chat box if you'd like to access the captioning today. In addition to that link you can also access caption in the webinar console itself. If you look to the right of your screen you should see a series of dropdown menus. One of them says Media Viewer. If you select that you can expand that box and see the media viewer which lists all of the closed captions for today. If you'd like to have that box large on your screen just minimize all of the other options that you see and that box will be bigger. 

Today's webinar will be available via an archive on www.choosework.net and that will be posted within two weeks. We will have a question and answer session during today's webinar. If you have questions we do ask that you submit them through the Q and A box, which is again on the right hand side of your webinar console. You would just select that dropdown box and type your question in there and my fellow panelists and I will be able to see them. if you're not able to access that Q and A box you can also email your questions during the webinar to webinars@choosework.net and Nakia will chat that out as well, or you can submit them to support@choosework.net if you have questions after the webinar. 

Here's a bit of a visual of what you'll see if you're looking at the Q and A box and how to ask questions. So this is where you would type your questions and submit them to all of us and we will take a look and see how we can help you. You're dialed into today's webinar either using your computer or your phone and if you have any issues accessing the audio conference you would choose Communicate from the menu at the top of your screen and you can choose to call in by phone simply by accessing the audio conference option if you do need to change the way that you are listening to this webinar. 

Now for some additional housekeeping items, today's agenda we have gone through the welcome and introductions, we will be diving into shortly to learn about the three biggest myths about disability benefits and work, and Marlene Ulisky from National Disability Institute will be talking with us about those myths. We'll then talk in greater detail about the Ticket to Work program and some work incentives information and then we'll review some additional resources and go to our questions and answers. 

At this time though we do have one additional housekeeping issue and we would like to ask you some questions. So I'm going to go ahead and open our polls for today and we do have a few questions for you. This just helps us design webinar content for the future and gives us some information about who's listening today. So our first poll is how did you learn about this National WISE webinar? Did you learn about it through an email, Facebook or Twitter, the website, friend or family, a WIPA or other? We have about ten more seconds to submit the answers. Thank you so much for providing so many answers so quickly. They're still coming in strong. Lots of folks heard about us from an email. If you're not able to access the polling question feel free to put your answer in the Q and A box as well. a couple more seconds. Thank you again for all of your answers. Quite a few folks heard about us on an email today. Okay here's our second poll. What do you hope to learn today? Do you want to learn about Ticket to Work, work incentives for SSI, work incentives for SSDI, employment networks or VR agencies, legal protection and advocacy or other? Those answers are coming in really fast and Kendra we have a lot of people interested in learning about Ticket to Work today. Alright I'm going to go ahead and close that one. Thank you again for all of your answers. We just have to wait a couple more seconds.



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Okay our next poling question is how many others are participating in the room with you? So this is the question that asks if you're alone please chose the answer zero, if you're not alone and you have one other person in the room with you that answer is one, and if you have several people in the room we would love to hear you're having a good ole webinar party out there today. We do have a few large groups out there. Thank you for joining us. Looks like we have about ten viewing parties out there so that's wonderful. We hope to be able to provide you with a lot of great information throughout today's webinar. Just a couple more questions. Please bear with us as we go through these housekeeping items with you. The next one, what is your gender? Are you male or female? We have almost, we have more than twice as many women joining us today. Thank you everyone for getting those responses in.



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And we have one last question. I just have to wait for that one to process. What is your age? Are you 18 and under, 19 to 25, 26 to 40, 41 to 55 or 55 to 65? Lots of answers coming in; thank you again. I will go ahead and get that poll closed as well. I would like to thank everyone for joining us today and as soon as this poll closes I am going to turn it over to Ms. Kendra Berry from Indiana Works who's going to tell us a little bit about Social Security Disability Benefits programs. Kendra, take it away.



>> Kendra Berry: Thanks Jayme. I'm sorry. Give me a second to mess with my phone.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: You're sounding okay Kendra.



>> Kendra Berry: Okay. I wanted to take it off speaker. My name is Kendra and I'm the Supervising Community Work Incentive Coordinator or CWIC here in Indiana Works and we are a WIPA project here in Indiana. WIPA is Work Incentives Planning and Assistance. I am going to talk to you about the different Social Security Benefits programs. The reason this is important is because there are two main programs through Social Security that you can receive benefits from. The first one that we're going to talk about is referred to as SSDI for Social Security Disability Insurance. And you will be receiving this if you have worked in the past and you paid your taxes and you're receiving against your work record or you became disabled before the age of 22 and you're receiving against your parents record. Next slide. And next slide after that. The second program that you could be receiving benefits with is Supplemental Security Income or SSI. And this is for those of you who didn't work in the past or didn't work close enough to the time that you became disabled. Sometimes this is referred to as the Welfare Program. The reason it's important to understand what type of benefit you're receiving is because the work incentives associated with them are different. How much you can earn and how your earnings will be looked at are counted differently depending on the type of benefit. Next slide. Some of you may be receiving both SSDI and SSI and this is known as concurrent benefits and this just means that you have worked in the past but maybe you didn't work enough to qualify for what Social Security deems as the minimum that someone can live on, so you would receive that amount back in SSI to help you reach that level. Again, so important to note if you're receiving both types that there are different work incentives that apply to each of the benefits. This is something to keep in mind as we go through the rest of the presentation. You may have specific questions and one of the things that we'll discuss throughout the presentation is how to get in contact with agencies that can help you understand what benefit you're receiving and how working will impact your benefits. So I think Marlene is going to get us started with how, what are the biggest myths about disability.



>> Marlene Ulisky: Thank you Kendra. Can you hear me?



>> Jayme Pendergraft: You sound great Marlene.



>> Marlene Ulisky: Okay great. What I wanted to do and thank you Kendra for providing us with a basic foundation or some knowledge on the different types of benefits that Social Security provides to individuals with disabilities. We received a lot of information so far. Sometimes it's a little confusing but what Kendra said is vitally important. You must know what type of a benefit you're receiving so that you know the impact of work on your benefits and I'm talking about your cash benefits and your Medicare and Medicaid. So at this point I think we should do something different. I think, we've all heard a lot of rumors or myths about what we can or maybe we cannot do or what happens when we enter or we reenter the workforce while receiving a disability based benefit, and I don't have to have anyone tell me because I know that all of us know that someone in our family or friends or a neighbor or an acquaintance seems to be an expert on all of the rules with regards to working. But are they truly an expert or do they merely interpret what they think will happen or repeat what they thought they heard or maybe they thought they understood? So anyway in this segment we're going to debunk the three biggest myths about Social Security disability benefits and work and we decided that the best way to debunk a myth is by providing you with accurate information and communicating the facts and providing you with references so that you can go back later and review the material to reinforce what you're hearing today. So does that sound like a plan? Seems fair enough.

So now I'd like you just to sit back a bit and think quietly for a moment or two and think about working. The fact that you are here today says an awful lot about you. You may either be thinking about work, a first time job, maybe it's part time work or maybe even full time work. Or you thought about entering or reentering the workforce but something may have stopped you. Think about it. Today one of our goals is to make things so much clearer to you that there'll be no stopping you on your way to financial freedom and financial independence. So with that let's play a game and it's true or false. 

What we see here is a little stick figure we're going to call him Ben and Ben is asking if I try to go to work I will, he is saying if I try to go to work I will automatically lose my Medicare or my Medicaid; I will automatically lose it. We hear that time and time again. If we work part time we generally don't have health insurance or if we work full time we may have to wait until we become eligible for this benefit or we may have to pay an awful high premium. So on the next slide we see that that answer is, is it true or is it false? I try to go to work I will automatically lose my Medicare or Medicaid? And the answer is false. You'll not automatically lose your Medicare or Medicaid if you go to work. What it means is so long as you're receiving either your full cash benefit or a portion of your cash benefit your Medicare or your Medicaid continues. That's sounds almost too good to be true so let me tell you that it's a fact. As you look at your screen I wanted to point out something before I go on further. You'll see little circles and there'll be SSDI in one circle and SSI in another. What that means is this particular slide pertains to you if you're receiving SSDI benefits or an SSI benefit or concurrent benefits; that means you receive two checks. So just when you see that just so that you understand this slide may pertain to you or it may not pertain to you. 

The Social Security has what's called work incentives in place and they allow you to test your ability to work. Many folks want to work part time to supplement their cash benefits and with this debunked myth you'll be able to do so without the scare of the loss of Medicare or Medicaid. 

There's some folks out there who have a wonderful opportunity to work, to get a job with higher pay or possibly a full time job so let's debunk the fear of the loss of Medicaid or Medicare too later on for those folks and we want to spread the wealth. So long as you maintain entitlement or eligibility to benefits you'll keep your Medicare or your Medicaid. It's as simple as that. Let's look at this a little closer and examine supplemental security income or SSI first and examine how work will affect Medicaid when you're earnings are so high that your SSI benefit is reduced to zero. You're eligible but not payable. Now this presentation is not meant to go over all of the fine aspects teaching how benefits are calculated but teaches you all the rules. We'll do that either in another presentation or you may wish to listen to other work seminars to learn that information. So getting back to the eligible but not payable issue, remember we talked a little earlier about SSI. SSI is a needs based program and the earnings generally have an effect on the amounts of the cash benefit. In general you would lose one dollar for every two dollars of earnings that you end up with more money in your pocket. And on this slide we're seeing for SSI recipients they may qualify for continued Medicaid eligibility under a special provision in the law called 1619 b, and there are five bullets on the screen and you must meet all of the criteria there to be eligible for continued Medicaid not receiving a cash benefit under the SSI program. So let's go over them. The first bullet says you must have been eligible for a supplemental security income cash payment for at least one month prior to becoming ineligible for the cash benefits. The second bullet says that you must meet the Social Security Administration's definition of disability; you must continue to be disabled. What that means is you haven't medically improved; your disability did not go away. And remember you can work despite having an impairment or being disabled. The third bullet says that you must meet all other non-disability SSI requirements. And what that means is income and resources and things like that just remember even though no cash payment is received when a person is in 1619 b status the Social Security Administration will generally conduct an annual redetermination to ensure that all other SSI eligibility requirements are met. You must continue to meet all eligibility requirements to be eligible for the continued Medicaid. The fourth bullet says you must need Medicaid benefits to continue to work. And you may wonder how does Social Security determine that. And what they do is they apply what they call a Medicaid usage test and they ask three questions and it's generally during their redetermination. They ask you if you've used Medicaid in the last 12 months, if you expect to use Medicaid in the next 12 months or would you be unable to pay unexpected medical bills in the next 12 months without the Medicaid coverage. A yes answer to any of the questions means that you need the Medicaid in order to work. Now the last bullet is you must have gross earnings that are below your state's threshold of eligibility. Now those levels vary from state to state and you could obtain these levels if you obtain a copy of the Social Security Administration's Red Book which is available online. The threshold level actually measures whether your earnings are high enough to replace to supplemental security income benefits and your Medicaid benefit. It's actually based upon the amount of earnings that would cause your SSI payments to stop in your home state plus the average Medicaid expenditures in your state. Now that varies from state to state as I said and the threshold's range is anywhere from a low of about $27,000 in Alabama, and that's not too low, to a high of about $66,520 in Connecticut. So I just want to mention on this slide one other thing. If you do have an opportunity for a great job or a promotion never hold your earnings down, because if your earnings are higher than that threshold amount for your state, the Social Security Administration can calculate what's called an individual threshold analysis or a threshold amount to determine if your earnings are sufficient to replace all of the benefits that you would receive in the absence of those earnings. And that usually pertains to someone who has a large number of impairment related work expenses or blind work expenses or attendant care expenses or if their medical expenses are higher than their state's per capita. Now on the next slide you may be asking how work is taxed for Medicaid if you're still disabled and you're no longer entitled to the free Medicaid under 1619 b because you're earning too much. So let's assume that you're working and you're doing a fantastic job. You're employer has recognized the job you're doing by increasing your salary or earnings and let's say you no longer qualify for that free Medicaid we talked about but you still have the disability, you still want to work. You really need your Medicaid. You really can't lose it. Many states have what's termed Medicaid buy in program and that's where your state may allow you to purchase Medicaid if you're disabled, you're no longer entitled to the free Medicaid because you've returned to work. To qualify you must continue, again, to meet the Social Security Administration's definition of disability and you must continue to be eligible for supplemental security income if it wasn't for your work and your earnings. This buy in program is fantastic and it provides you with access to services and support so that you won't have to choose between healthcare and work. Today the Medicaid buy in program continues to provide folks an opportunity to improve not only their health but also their economic well-being. So now you ask how will work my Medicare? So we're looking at folks receiving an SSDI benefit. Back in December 1999 Medicare coverage was expanded for individuals with disabilities who work under the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act under what we used to term TWWIIA. If you are an SSDI beneficiary and you're working your Medicare will continue at least 93 months, 93 consecutive months after your trial work period. That's your hospital insurance part A and your Medicare part B and your part D if you're enrolled in those, and remember you don't have to pay a premium for part A. Part A is free. That's eight and one half years of coverage. Alright, going on with how work affects your Medicare, as we said a little earlier the 93 months start after your 9 month trial work period and to qualify you must already have had your Medicare. And for most folks that means that you have been entitled to your benefits, your cash benefits, or you've been receiving SSDI benefits for 24 months or more. So we're assuming that you're working, it's a substantial gainful activity level or the SGA level, you're not receiving a cash benefit, Medicare will continue so long as there has not been a medical review that found that you medically improved. And again we're saying that Medicare will continue at least 93 months after the trial work period. Now if you're working below the substantial gainful activity level Medicare can continue even longer so long as you haven't medically improved. Okay on the next slide, on the last slide we said that if your Social Security cash benefits stopped because of your earnings and you're still disabled, your free Medicare part A coverage would continue at least he 93 months after the 9 month trial work period. You may be asking at this point but then what happens. You may not have insurance with your employer. Well there's help out there. If you are under the age of 65 and you're no longer entitled to Medicare due to your work, you may be eligible for a program where the state pays your part A premium. You must have limited income and resources and you must not be eligible for Medicaid under another state program and again, you must continue to have a disabling impairment. In that case you would contact your state Medicaid agency or your state health and human services agency. Now if you don't know who to contact in your state for help, you would call 1-800-MEDICARE or the TTY number is 1-877-486-2048. You'll be asked for your Medicare number and transfer to the main menu. You would choose other choices and then another question. You'll be transferred to a representative who will ask you some questions and you should be prepared to tell them your state and to write down the toll-free number they provide you with for additional information. So with that, that was an awful lot of information again, let's look at a case study. So let's meet Debra and like many of us Debra returned to work and she has a medical condition where she could have a setback at any time and she absolutely, positively needs her health insurance coverage. She has asthma and she has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and every so often she ends up in the hospital on a ventilator. She goes in and out of the hospital, on and off a ventilator. Slowly but surely her health has improved slightly and she decided that it was time that she needed to return to work, but what she did was she visited the website that you see on the screen and that website is http://www. chooseworkttw.net/ library/debra, that's spelled d-e-b-r-a, dash corse dash success dash story. So she visited that website and she learned more about the work incentives and she looked into some of the podcasts that were there and she may have even listened to some of the other WISE webinars and she even hooked up with a Social Security work website. She called the Ticket to Work helpline, she got additional information, she learned about all of the employment supports available, she went to work, she completed a trial work period, she worked in her period of eligibility and she no longer lives with the fear of losing health insurance benefits or not having it to fall back on should her medical condition worsen or deteriorate. She's changed the whole quality of her life and because she did things first by educating herself there were no surprises for her. So to read Debra's full story, which is truly inspiring and very encouraging, visit the website that I just provided to you and Nikia has indicated the website also in the chat box and read about her. It's really a lot of information. So with that Kendra I was hoping maybe you could take over for a bit and maybe talk a little bit about the Ticket to Work program and maybe medical reviews and then maybe I could return later and talk about the last myth. Kendra?



>> Kendra Berry: That sounds perfect Marlene.



>> Marlene Ulisky: Thank you.



>> Kendra Berry: Looks like Ben is back with another true or false question for us. The question is, if I use my Ticket to Work to go to work, Social Security will conduct a medical review of my case and I'll lose my benefits. Is it true or is it false? Next slide. The answer is false. If you participate in the ticket to work program with either an employment network or your state vocational rehabilitation agency and make timely progress following your individual work plan, Social Security will postpone your medical continuing disability review also known as a CDR. So what does that mean? When you choose to go to work, you guys are doing everything right right now. You're listening to this presentation and trying to understand how working will impact your benefits. You can get connected with an agency, either the Employment Network or your local vocational rehabilitation agency and you can assign your ticket to them. Your Ticket to Work we're going to discuss more later, but it allows you to receive services from agencies and in order to help you find a job. Go onto the next slide. The medical CDR, that's done from Social Security that's that paperwork that you get every few years. Some of you may get it every one or three years, some of you may only get it every seven years. And all it is is Social Security verifying that you still have a disability. By assigning your Ticket to Work to either an employment network or to vocational rehabilitation you won't have that continuing disability review. So what is the timely progress review? So Social Security completes a timely progress review to measure your success in achieving your work goals. So it's different from that disability review. The timely progress review is looking at your work goals and how you're meeting those. You and your employment team, so that would be your employment network or vocational rehabilitation, will create an individual work plan, or an IWP, that describes your work, education and or training goals. Every 12 months Social Security reviews the progress you've made towards your work goals. So an example of this is I used to be a case manager for a mental health center and I helped adults with mental illnesses go back to work. We helped them find jobs that they wanted. When you work with an agency it's not like a placement service, they're not going to put you somewhere. They're going to sit down with you and figure out what you want to do. So if you're only looking for say 20 hours a week in something very specific like a secretarial position, or you want to work behind the scenes in a pet store, your employment network or vocational rehabilitation they're there to help you find that goal. So when I was working at the mental health center, I worked with a client and his goal was to work 15 hours a week at a pet shop. So we had to write out this plan and the plan stated that this was his goal, how many hours a week, where he wanted to work and where we were going to put in applications. So you'll list out, you'll list like Pet Supplies Plus or PetSmart, just the different places that you want to apply. As you're doing this you will be getting ready for the timely progress review. Next slide. So an example of the timely progress review from Social Security's Red Book and Marlene explained to you what the Red Book was, where you can learn more about the different work incentives. You're making timely progress if at your first 12 month review one, you have worked 3 out of 12 months at the trial work period earning levels or two, completed 60 percent of a full time course load for one year toward a degree, certifications, technical trade or vocational program. Now that sounds a little confusing, so back to my example of the gentleman who was looking to work in a pet store. After we completed his IWP and we submitted that vocational rehabilitation his ticket was considered in use with vocational rehabilitation and we were now and we started putting out applications and looking for a job. It took us two and a half months but he was able to find a job working 15 hours a week and he was hired at PetSmart. He worked stocking and he worked in the back so he was able to interact with the animals, the ones that were there, the ones that came in but he didn't have to deal with people that much. So we report that to vocational rehabilitation and then we also reported to Social Security. So even though it took us two and a half months to find that job, once he started working he was able to keep that job. So after a 12 month period he had worked for 9 and a half months so he would have met this timely progress review and that's an example of how working will look for the timely progress review. If you're going to school you can also use this incentive, because if you complete 60 percent of a full time course load for 1 year towards your degree or certification then that would count as timely progress as well. So as long as you continue to work toward your end goal you would not have that continuing disability review from Social Security and you would be considered to be meeting the timely progress requirements through Social Security. And I know again that it gets kind of confusing, but if you have questions about this in the future you could always contact an agency, a WIPA agency or a different agency that understands how it works. And we'll review some of the websites later, but choosework.net is a great one. Next slide. If you don't meet the TPR requirements you can continue to participate in the Ticket to Work and we'll go over later what that means, and your cash Medicare and Medicaid benefits will not be affected. You're not going to lose your benefits just because you weren't able to hold a job or just because you weren't able to go to a full course load of schooling; however, you'll no longer be excused from the scheduled continuing disability review. So it's important to understand what the TPR is but not meeting the requirements doesn't mean you're going to lose your benefits so that's really important to understand from this. I am going to hand this back over to Marlene to go over the next true or false statement.



>> Marlene Ulisky: Thanks Kendra. The next true or false is let's see, if my check, Ben's back again and he's saying if my checks stop because I go to work and then I have to stop working because of my disability, I will have to reapply for benefits all over again. It took me forever to be approved for benefits and I cannot afford to wait that long again. As a result I should not try to work. Is that true or false? And I'd like to add something small tot his slide. That answer is false. Now we all know of someone or maybe it's even you who applied for benefits and may have waited many months or a year or more for a medical decision, the length of time it takes for decisions is caused by many factors. Sometimes it's administrative delays but other times it's caused by a lack of medical evidence provided by the medical, your treating physician. I truly know that some of you out there may not want to risk the chance of losing benefits when it took you so long to be approved for benefits. So in this case you will not need to apply, reapply for benefits if your benefits ended within the past five years due to work and earnings and you meet a few other Social Security requirements. And that's a work incentive called expedited reinstatement. Now with expedited reinstatement you don't reapply for benefits, you don't need to file a new application. Now remember your benefits must have ended with the past 5 years or the past 60 months due to work and you have to meet a few other requirements. It may be exactly what you need. Now expedited reinstatement is a work incentive available either for SSDI beneficiaries or SSI recipients. It puts you on the fast track back to benefits. Now remember there's that 5 year or 60 month requirement of applying from the time benefits terminated. You would possibly qualify for expedited reinstatement if you're not working or if you're working under the substantial gainful activity level. The other requirement is you must have the same impairment or an impairment related to the original reason why you were receiving a disability based benefit. The best way to apply for expedited reinstatement is by telephoning your local Social Security office and making an appointment. You would make an appointment either for them to, you can file a claim either by telephone or in person but you cannot do it online just yet. Next slide. After you file the expedited reinstatement request Social Security immediately restarts your checks and pays you benefits for up to six months while they're determining whether or not you are still disabled, and remember many of you out there may be working despite having an impairment, but just because you work doesn't mean that the disability went away. Now while the expedited reinstatement is pending you may also be eligible for your Medicaid or your Medicare or your Medicaid during that period, and once again if you are filing I would encourage you to make an appointment so that you don't have a long wait in a field office and you can get things moving quickly and start up your checks again. So with that I think I'm going to hand this back to you Kendra to talk a little bit about another case study about Megan.



>> Kendra Berry: Thanks Marlene.



>> Marlene Ulisky: You're welcome.



>> Kendra Berry: We can go ahead to the next slide and look at Megan's journey. Megan has joined us before on presentations and there's a video where you can learn more about Megan. The address for that website is on the bottom of your screen and it'll also be in the chat box. For those of you who can't see that it is http://www.chooseworkttw. net/library, l-i-b-r-a-r-y, /megan, m-e-g-a-n dash riggs, r-i-g-g-s, dash success, s-u-c-c-e-s-s dash story, s-t-o-r-y, dash part, p-a-r-t dash 1 as in the numeral 1. That's such a long address but it's a really great story for those of you who want to go view it. Let's go over what's her timeline looked like. In 2008, Megan was diagnosed with clinical depression. It was very severe and she ended up in-patient in the hospital to get her [inaudible] under control to find the right medication that worked for her and just to start feeling better. She was unable to work at that time. She had to quit her job and that's when she went on to Social Security benefits in 2008. In 2010, she was feeling a lot better. Her medications were helping greatly deal with all of her symptoms and she was ready to try working. She contacted an employment network and wanted to start looking for a job. She wrote an IWP with them, so she talked about what her job goal was, how many hours a week she wanted to work, what she wanted to do, and they helped her to find a job. In 2011, Megan began successfully working. She was able to earn enough that her cash benefits stopped. So like Marlene explained, she used some of the work incentives but she began her extended period of eligibility, or EPE. And that's that period after the trial work period where you have three years depending on how much you're making, that you either receive your check or you don't. Megan was making enough that her checks stopped but she was still in that period of protection so she had that safety net. In 2013, so only two years later, her work ended. She didn't have a job anymore. Because she was still in her EPE, her extended period of eligibility, her benefits started back up without her having to do anything. She reported that her earnings stopped, that her job had stopped, and her cash benefits started back up through social security. And this is a huge benefit to all of you because it is just another safety net that is available for you. In 2014, Megan decided that she wanted to become a Zumba instructor. She used Zumba throughout her illness as a way to cope. It for her worked, in helping her deal with her depression and anxiety and just her symptoms. And she enjoyed it so much that she has actually has been able to start a business as a Zumba instructor, so she has worked her way off of benefits again. And you can visit the website that I read that's linked in the chat box to hear Megan tell you about it in her own words because it's really awesome. The next slide/ After we heard about all the myths and different stories of how people have used these work incentives, and I've mentioned the Ticket to Work program, let's discuss what the Ticket to Work program actually is. Next slide. The Ticket to Work program supports career development for people with disabilities who want to work. It's for disability beneficiaries age 18 through 64 and it's free and voluntary. I love giving this presentation because it used to show a picture of what the actual paper ticket looked like. And some of you may have received that paper ticket 10 years ago, even 15 years ago, and there wasn't a lot of information out there about what it meant and people thought it meant that Social Security was going to force you to go back to work. So they just threw the ticket away, they put it in a book and just shoved that book somewhere and they just didn't do anything with it. And that's not what the Ticket to Work is. The Ticket to Work is a program that gives you access to a lot of different agencies to help you find a job. The Ticket to Work program is meant to help you get connected with someone who's going to listen to what your disability is. They're going to ask you what you can and can't do, and what you want to do for a job. The goal of helping you get back to work is to help you get back out there and feel better, because if you're thinking about working and you are, because you're listening in on this presentation, you know that just interacting with coworkers can make you feel so much better. Even if your health isn't doing so great, it can be awesome to just have that connection with people. Next slide. This is the next step - gathering information and resources is the key to planning your journey towards employment. And the Ticket to Work and work incentives help make that journey a smooth one. Looking at the slides, next slide. Only you can decide if work is the right choice for you. Next slide. I talk to people all the time. I mention I am a community work incentives coordinator or a CWIC, and that I work with a WIPA. So if you have ever called the Ticket to Work help line before, and you've asked any questions about your benefits, you've probably been referred to the WIPA agency in your state. Every state has at least one, most states have many. Here in Indiana, we have two. And we help people understand exactly how working will impact all of their benefits. So, when I call someone, I ask them what benefits they're receiving and why they're interested in working. And the most common answers that I hear about why people want to go back to work, is that they want to earn more money. It's hard to pay your bills, just on your disability income. Even if you're receiving food stamps or HUD assistance, or any other assistance, it's hard to live on just that money. A lot of people want to gain independence. They're tired of relying on their family members or having to ask friends for just money for gas money. A lot of people are just interested in meeting new people. I talked to a gentleman yesterday who said that he was just tired of sitting on the couch and he wanted to get out of the house for five to seven hours a week, and that's perfectly fine. The goal of the Ticket to Work program is for you to find the job that's a good fit for you. So whether that means you want to work five a month or you're ready to try working full time, 40 hours a week that is up to you. Other people are interested in learning new skills, and that's the best part of the Ticket to Work program, is that you can get connected with agencies and get education and training to learn new skills and to get into a new career. A lot of people that I work with were injured while working and they aren't able to go back to that career. An example of this is construction workers or anyone doing manual labor. Once you've become disabled, it's hard to go back into that field. But if that's all you've done for your entire life, then what do you do now? Using your Ticket to Work and getting connected with either an employment network or vocational rehabilitation, should allow you to get training for a new career which is awesome. So it's something to consider as we finish up this webinar. Next slide. I am going to probably bore everyone to tears and talk about work incentives because I love them. Marlene actually got to talk about my favorite work incentive which is expedited reinstatement. The biggest fear that people have when they call me is that they've heard from their mother's sister's cousin's brother's uncle's dog's friend, that going to work will cause you to lose all of your benefits immediately. And we've heard from myself and Marlene that that's not the case. Expedited reinstatement is the best because even if you're able to work your way off of benefits, you can get things restarted without having to go through that application process. And that is the biggest deal for the client's I worked with as a case manager, as a job coach and now. So many of you I'm sure, when you applied for social security, it took you six months, it took you two years, it may have even taken you three, four or five years to get onto benefits. And it can be scary to consider going back to work if you're afraid that you'll lose that. And this presentation should be the first step to showing you that the work incentives provide you with a huge safety net. The work incentives are special social security rules and they allow you to do a few different things. That's receive training for new skills, improve the skills you already have, pursue your education, try different jobs, start a career and gain confidence. We've talked a lot about the different myths, but what we didn't talk that much about and I'm only going to briefly give you some information on is the SSDI versus SSI work incentives. For those of you who are really considering going to work, the best thing you can do is contact the Ticket to Work help line and get connected with your local WIPA, or work incentive planning and assistance project. And they're going to do a report for you and they'll explain how much you're getting right now, what type of disability benefit you're getting, if you have Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, food stamp benefits, HUD housing assistance. They'll verify all of that with you and they'll explain exactly what work incentives are available to you based on what your work goal is. So again, whether you want to work that five hours a week or 40 hours a week, they'll be able to help you understand how to apply the work incentive. For those of you on SSDI, your work incentives start with that nine month trial work period and then go to that three year extended period of eligibility. And then you have the five year period of expedited reinstatement. So that's over eight years of a safety net of protection for you. And in addition to that, there are work incentives that lower your countable income, and this is important for those of you who are interested in self-employment even, and I know there's a few of you out there. If you're paying for expenses out of pocket that are related to your disability, things like medications, or doctor's copays or if you have a cane or a wheelchair; anything that's related to any disabling condition you have, social security will take that into account and they'll subtract those payments you make from your earnings, so it lowers the earnings that social security counts. Another work incentive for SSDI recipients is subsidy, and subsidy and special conditions. And this is if your employer makes any accommodations for you, they [inaudible] is I had a woman call me a couple weeks ago and she started working five months ago and her employer allowed her to take four extra breaks during the day and also allowed her to sit instead of standing like her other coworkers. Those count as accommodations, so what we're doing right now is we're filling out paperwork to submit to social security to - so that social security will use that as a subsidy. And what social security does is they apply a percentage those accommodations. So for her, the percent is going to be around 25%. So because her employer allows her to take those extra breaks and allows her to sit versus standing, Social Security won't count 25% of her earnings. So it will impact the amount of money that social security is looking at and counting for her work earnings. It's really interesting, and I know that this can also be really overwhelming. We've talked about so many different things with the myths and the Ticket to Work program and the work incentives. This is just the gateway for you to consider working and if it's a good fit for you. So hopefully all of the things you're hearing about right now, will peak your interest and make you want to either go on line and click on some of these websites I've given you. Maybe you want to see Megan's story and hear her talk about someone who's actually used these work incentives because it's one thing for me to sit here and to tell you, oh yeah these work incentives exist, they're great, people will help you. It's another thing to actually hear someone who's used these work incentives. She has been in your situation, she was receiving benefits and this is how it worked for her. So, I encourage everyone to check out that website on Megan and all the other success stories because there's a few others. You can also visit the choose work website and Jamie is going to give us some information about additional resources. Jaime? 

Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks so much Kendra and Marlene. Those were wonderful presentations with lots and lots of information and I know that we have a lot of questions coming in through the Q&A box, so I want to remind folks that if you do have questions, go ahead and put them in that Q&A box and we will do our best to get to them. We do have a lot of folks dialed in today, so if we are not able to answer your question during this webinar, we do encourage you to give a call to the Ticket to Work call center, especially if you have very specific questions about your particular situation. So let's talk a little bit about additional resources. I apologize, that slide is sideways. So Nakia I am going to ask you to pass out the information listed on this slide, and oh thank you for fixing that slide for me, I appreciate that. So for more information as I mentioned, you can call the Ticket to Work help line, their phone number is 1-866-968-7842 for boys. Again, that's 1-566-968-7842 for boys, or for TTY you can call them at 1-866-833-2967. Again, TTY is 1-866-833-2967 and the great people at the Ticket to Work help line can help you answer your benefits questions and also refer you on to additional people near you such as Kendra or Marlene who can help you with your specific questions and get you back to work. You can also visit the Social Security website which is www.socialsecurity.gov. That's socialsecurity.gov/work and that is the same thing as the choose work website and has a lot of really great resources listed on there and you can also find out about upcoming events and pay attention to new materials that we may release. We are also on social media and there are quite a few ways that you can connect with us. You can like us on Facebook and that link is www.facebook.com/choosework. And bear with me as I read all these links, I know it's a lot of information. You can follow us on Twitter, and that URL is www.twitter.com/chooseworkssa. You can watch our success stories that Kendra referred to on our YouTube channel. You can see Megan and a variety of other folks who each have their own story. And you can view those at www.youtube.com/choosework. And for service providers out there, you can follow us on LinkedIn and that website is www.linkedin.com/company/ticket-to-work and we do hope you'll join us on some of these social media pages where we are constantly posting new information and hope to engage with all of you. Nakia can you help me with this slide as well? While Nikia is fixing the orientation on this slide, I would like to tell you about a really wonderful resource that's available on the choose work website. And that is called the find help tool and on that site, you can actually search for service providers that are close to you. You can put your zip code in and the site will automatically come up with all the service providers that serve folks in your area. You can also search by disability type; you can take a look at specific service providers that might be speaking your language if it's different than English and you can take a look at the services that the providers offer. On the find help tool, you'll find a variety of service providers including employment networks, workforce employment networks, vocational rehabilitation, work incentives planning and assistance projects, which is where Kendra works or your protection and advocacy for beneficiaries of social security office. The URL for the find help tool is www.choosework.net/findhelp. And again, that's a wonderful resource to find the service provider in your area. I am actually going to go back and leave the resources screen up on your monitor while we go over some questions. So Kendra, my first question is for you. How do I know if I am on SSI or SSDI?



>> Kendra Berry: The best way to find out if you're on SSI or SSDI is to give the Ticket to Work help line a call and I am going to repeat their number because I think that this resource is wonderful because not only can you figure out what type of benefit you're receiving, but it's a way to get connected with a lot of different agencies that can assist you in returning to work. Their phone number is 866-968-7842 or for TTY 866-833-2967. 

Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks Kendra. I also just listed a lot of different types of service providers. Could you help us out with telling us what an employment network is?



>> Kendra Berry: Yes, an employment network is an agency that is there to help you find a job. And this can be a private agency, a public agency, a state funded agency. The way the employment network works is they get paid if you get a job. So they really want to help you not only figure out what type of job that is going to be a good fit for you, they're going to ask you about your disability, they're going to ask you how many hours you want to work, where you want to work, they're going to help you find that job. And their incentive for doing this, is that they don't get paid by the government until you get a job. And an employment network is, that's who you'll be assigned your ticket to. You can either choose an employment network and there's lots of options locally for you, and nationally, or you can choose to assign your ticket to vocational rehabilitation, which is a state and federal agency that is available to everyone. And either way you go, you'll be working with someone one on one who's there to help you find a job. For those of you who are able to look for a job on your own, or maybe some of you already found a job and you're already working, you can contact the Ticket to Work help line and ask for a list of employment networks who can work with you now. You can still assign your ticket, even if you're already working and there are a lot of benefits to assigning your ticket. Like some of the employment networks, will pay you for working your way off benefits. So, call the Ticket to Work help line and learn more about the employment networks and about all of the different agencies that can help you to find employment.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks so much Kendra, you did touch a little bit on our next question, but cold you go into a little further detail about what the difference is between an employment network and vocational rehabilitation?



>> Kendra Berry: Sure. Vocational rehabilitation is a state and federal agency. They're funded both state and federally, and working with them is a different process. Working with vocational rehabilitation your ticket will be assigned to them, and then you'll choose a provider to work with. The difference is that working with an employment network, you work with just that employment network. So it's a different way to go about things. For a lot of you, you've heard about vocational rehabilitation before. You probably know people who have worked with vocational rehabilitation, but you're not as familiar with employment network because it's newer than vocational rehabilitation is. If you're interested in returning to school or getting additional training, a lot of times people choose to go with vocational rehabilitation because of the funding. It's a difference in funding a lot of times and the services is offered. When you visit the choose work website or the socialsecurity.gov website, you can click to learn more about the employment network and the state vocational rehabilitation agencies and see what services they offer. Depending on what services you're looking for in your job search, will depend on I think which way you go. It's very individualized and I think that's what people don't understand about the Ticket to Work program is that it's completely customizable, so whatever it is you're looking for, whether you already found that job and you just need some help at the back end, or you need someone to help you with interview skills testing and writing a resume and doing applications, you can find an agency that's going to be the perfect fit for you. I hope that answers the question Jayme.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: That does, thank you very much. I have a couple more acronym questions for you. You've mentioned that you're a CWIC and that you work at a WIPA project. Can you explain those a little further for us?



>> Kendra Berry: I can. There's tons of acronyms that we throw out and I've worked really hard to not use VR, for vocational rehabilitation. I am a CWIC, and that's a community work incentives coordinator. And I work for a WIPA, which is a work incentive planning and assistance agency. So let's start with a WIPA. The work incentive planning and assistance agencies are located in every state and ever state has at least one. Here in Indiana, we have two. My project covers northern central Indiana. We cover 58 counties. The WIPA projects are funded through social security to provide benefit counseling for free. So if you have questions about what type of benefit disability you're receiving, how work will impact not only your social security benefits but SNAP, HUD, any benefits you may be receiving, Medicare, Medicaid, your WIPA project will be able to assist you with them. The WIPA projects are staffed with CWICs and I'm the supervisor for our project here in northern and central Indiana. The CWICs are community work incentive coordinators. We are trained and certified to provide benefits counseling to SSI and SSDI recipients. This is all we do. We work with SSI and SSDI recipients and explain all of these work incentives, all of the different resources available, all of the different agencies that you can work with, and what we do for most people is put together a report. The reports are six to ten pages and that seems like a lot but it's not because it lists out what benefit you're receiving, when you became eligible, if you have Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, HUD; all of those things are verified. And then it lists out what your job goal is. How many hours a week you would like to work, how much you would like to earn, or are already earning, and then what your monthly earnings would be. And then we explain the work incentives that are available to you. So for those of you who have SSDI, we'll explain if you've used your trial work period, if you haven't, if you've used some of it, the EPE, the EXR, all of those acronyms that Marlene mentioned and I defined a little more later, all of those things. For SSI recipients, we'll show you the calculation that's used when Social Security is determining how work will impact your earnings. So, your WIPA can be a great resource for you. I encourage people to contact before they being working so that you know what work incentives are available to you and you're prepared and understand how to report your earnings once you start working, but even if you're already working now, contact them and they can help you understand if you've used any of your work incentives, and how to report some of those extra work incentives, like impairment related work expenses.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks so much Kendra and my follow up to that is can you remind us how to find our WIPAs and ENs?



>> Kendra Berry: You can, you can call the Ticket to Work help line. I'm telling you, that's the best number to call, it's the best resource to use to learn the information. And you can give them a call at 866-968-7842 or for TTY 866-833-2967. You can also find the information online. You can go to socialsecurity.gov/work or choosworkttw.net.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thank you so much Kendra, we're going to give you a little break and ask Marlene some questions. So Marlene, I'll give you a chance to get off of mute, thank you. We do have a couple of questions about 1619B and Medicaid buy in. Could you explain to us again how those two things are different?



>> Marlene Ulisky: Ok with 1619B, we were talking a little earlier, that is when someone was receiving the supplemental security income benefit and their earnings were so high that their cash benefit was reduced to zero. They were eligible and not payable, so when they're in 1619B status, their Medicaid continues as long as they answered all of the questions the Social Security Administration had asked them and they met all of the requirements we talked about in this PowerPoint. For the Medicaid buy in, it's different in that the individual is no longer eligible for supplemental security income because their earnings are generally over that threshold level, so they need to purchase Medicare to buy in to Medicare - or Medicaid, I'm sorry, into Medicaid.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Ok thanks Marlene. You also mentioned that there was a state threshold for 1619B, how do I find out what that is?



>> Marlene Ulisky: The state threshold levels are all listed in the Redbook, and the Redbook it's a publication; it's published by social security and it contains the access actually through the choose work website. If you would go to www.chooseworkttw.net, there's a link at the top of the screen and it would take you to the social security website and you can actually download the Redbook. In the Redbook, it indicates each state, the threshold level, and it also what I had forgotten to say in my presentation, in some of the states, there is a different threshold level if you're blind. But all of those levels are listed in the Redbook. When I looked at the Redbook this morning, I noticed that the 2016 version isn't there yet. Last year's 2015 version is there. So the figures may change just a little bit.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Ok thank you Marlene.



>> Kendra Berry: Jamie? I'm sorry, can I jump in for a second?



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Absolutely.



>> Kendra Berry: You can go online, the 2016 has been published for 1619B so it can be found online. They've recently came out.



>> Marlene Ulisky: Oh it did? I didn't see it. Thank you!



>> Kendra Berry: You're welcome.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Great, thank you both. Marlene, when you were talking about Medicare and Medicaid, you also talked about the social security definition of disabled. Can you explain this a little further?



>> Marlene Ulisky: Yes, the definition of disability for an adult under social security, is the inability to engage in substantial gainful activity, a reason of a medically determinable impairment or a combination of impairments, which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months or to result in death. And that sure is a mouthful. For children, there is a different definition of disability but we were gearing everything here folks 18 and over towards adults. With the definition of disability, you must meet that definition when you apply for benefits and you're deemed eligible for benefits. When you start receiving benefits, the substantial gainful activity is looked at differently once you are receiving the benefit, because after you're receiving the benefit, you actually are encouraged to work or try to enter or reenter the work force.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thank you Marlene, you mentioned substantial gainful activity a couple of times. Could you tell us what that is?



>> Marlene Ulisky: And that actually is a measure of your ability to work, and there are dollar limits placed upon it. For most folks on the disability role, their figure is $1,130 for 2016 if you were not blind. If you are blind, that individual - that level is slightly higher, that's $1,820. And those figures are actually gross figures looked at by the social security administration.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks Marlene. Kendra, we're going to switch over to you again to talk a little bit about expedited reinstatement and continuing disability review. Could you tell us what the continuing disability reviews are?



>> Kendra Berry: the continuing disability review has nothing to do with working. So, when you became entitled to your social security benefit, social security determined how long they expected your disability to last. For some of you, that's a year, for others it's three years, for others it's seven plus years and it just depends on what the regulations say based on what your disabling condition is. And based on that schedule of one year, three years, seven plus years, you receive a continuing disability review. And that hands that paperwork that you receive every few years, it's only about four pages and it asks you you know, your identifying information, and then it asks, have you seen a doctor in the last year? Have you taken any medications in the last year? Have you worked in the last year and has your disability changed in the last year? And you fill all that out and you send it back to social security. That's the continuing disability review. The benefit of assigning your ticket is that while your ticket is in use and you're making that timely progress and meeting those goals that I discussed, you won't have one of those continuing disability reviews sent to you. The benefit to that is that one of the questions on there is have you worked in the last year? So it is a protection for you that social security is not going to stop your benefits just because you went back to work. So it really is a benefit for you to assign your ticket and it doesn't cost you anything and you have get to choose the agency that you assign your ticket to. So I hope that explains your question.



>> Marlene Ulisky: Kendra, could I piggyback on that for a second and add something?



>> Kendra Berry: Sure.



>> Marlene Ulisky: Ok, with regards to those medical continuing disability reviews, that is a fact that social security will send a short form to the individual when they're conducting this review and it will ask a lot of questions like do you still have a disability, are you working, have you gone to school, have you medically improved, questions like that. That comes from Baltimore, from the social security administration headquarters. And if you don't answer that or you don't answer it timely, what they do is they download everything to the local social security field office, and the field office, that's your local office, conducts a full continuing disability review. So then what happens is you'll get a form that's eight to ten pages long and it asks all about of your treatment, your recent medical treatment and so on. They are honing in on the last year; they'll ask about hospitalization, medications, and what they actually do at that point is they send that information to the local disability determination folks and that's the state agency that makes the determinations for social security and they let them conduct that full medical review. So, as Kendra was telling you about that form that you'll receive for the continuing disability review, it's real important as soon as you receive it, fill it out, place it in the mail. Don't hesitate.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thank you Marlene and Kendra that was a wonderful answer. Kendra, when you were talking about expedited reinstatement, you mentioned the trial work period. Could you tell us what that means?



>> Kendra Berry: The trial work period is a nine month period that gives you the chance to test your ability to work. And the way that it works is that social security assigns an amount that if you earn above this amount, then your - you wouldn't use the trial work period month. And if you earn above it, then you would. I think that makes sense. And it's a safety net for you. This year the amount is $830, so if you earn less than that, then you wouldn't use a trial work period amount. And if you earned more than that, then you would. The goal of all of these work incentives is to help you to get back into the workforce and to achieve self-sufficiency. So a numerical value has to placed onto that. The trial work period is only available for those of you on SSDI. And so many of these work incentives that we've discussed, it depends on whether you're receiving SSI or SSDI and that's why I would strongly encourage you to contact the Ticket to Work help line and get in touch with your WIPA. They'll be able to explain to you what work incentives apply to your situation. Because I know that everyone has questions based on their situation. And this presentation is just to give you an overview of the most common myths that are out there; things that you've heard from someone who was receiving benefits in the past, or just things that have been passed along. And to give you just a brief introduction to the different agencies that can help you. There are a lot of other work incentives that we didn't cover that can help you to reach your long term goals like buying a house, or saving for your children's education. There are a lot of benefits to getting back into the workforce and this is a great way to get started on that journey.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks so much Kendra. I do have one more expedited reinstatement question for you. We have someone out there who wants to know that if they file for expedited reinstatement and they're turned down, would he need to return the six month of money he collected?



>> Kendra Berry: That is a great question and no that six months that you are paid while social security is pre-determining your case, is not something that you would have to pay back. So it is a huge benefit to you. The expedited reinstatement, it really is my favorite work incentive because it's that - it's a long safety net for you to get back out there. And for a lot of the people that call me and talk to me, they want to get back to working and not just relying on their social security benefits. And these work incentives were made for that. So get in contact with your WIPA, call some of the different ENs and get some help in figuring out what job you would like to do and how you can use these programs to reach those goals.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks so much Kendra. Marlene, the next question I think is for you. We've had a couple of questions about how you can use your ticket while you're attending school. We have folks out there who want to know if you need to go through an employment network to go to school and if you can pick where and what you want to study. Can you talk to that some?



>> Marlene Ulisky: I think it's best to always contact the Ticket to Work help line, talk it over with them, and make it provide you with resources which may be available. If it were me and I was going to think about going to school, I would want that medical review protection. So I would actually want to be working with an employment network or with vocational rehabilitation to have my ticket assigned to them while I am attending school until I can actually start working. I would want that medical review protection. I would also want to see if there were other services or supports they have available to help me to get through school. So, I actually would work with an employment network or VR before attending school.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Ok wonderful, thank you Marlene. Kendra, we have a couple of questions for you about Ticket to Work. We have folks wondering if they need to have that paper ticket?



>> Kendra Berry: That is a wonderful question and you do not have to have that paper ticket. Calling the Ticket to Work help line, you can just ask if your ticket is available to be assigned. And I know that there were some questions about how you assign the ticket. If you call the Ticket to Work help line, they'll be able to assist you with finding out if your ticket is available, if it's assigned to someone, if you need to unassign it and getting you in touch with an agency that you can assign your ticket to. If you're not ready to choose an agency at this point, whether it's an EN, or vocational rehabilitation, they will be able to send you contract information so that you can contact some of the different agencies. And there have been other presentations, live presentations that give you specific information on what kinds of questions to ask, and what to look for when you are considering how to assign your ticket.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks Kendra, we also have a lot of people out there wondering if you can use the Ticket to Work to become self-employed or to work from home?



>> Kendra Berry: Yes, you can. Everyone's situation is going to be different. So, no matter what you are looking for, you can use the Ticket to Work to meet your goals. It's interesting that people bring up working at home. In my position as a CWIC, I work from home. The 58 counties that we cover in Indiana, we do all of our benefits counseling on the phone and through mail to get consent and verify things, and we don't meet with people often. We meet with people for more in depth cases. And I've worked with a lot of people who are also looking for opportunities that allow them to work at home. There actually recently was a work incentive presentation on looking for work at home opportunities and the fact that the government right now has more work at home opportunities and is looking to hire people with disabilities. So the opportunities are out there. For self-employment, it is very, very important to utilize the Ticket to Work services and to get in touch with your local WIPA agency because self-employment is looked at differently than regular wage employment. So yes, you can use the Ticket to Work both working at home and for self-employment but it's important to know how those choices will impact your earnings and social security in the future. So, contact someone at the Ticket to Work help line or visit some of the resources that you've been given today to get in touch and look into some of that information.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks so much Kendra. I have one more question for you. We have some folks out there wondering if using their Ticket to Work to work part time is a good option for them?



>> Kendra Berry: Using your Ticket to work part time is a great starting point for people. The purpose of the work incentive and the Ticket to Work program is to work your way off of benefits. And there are some amazing incentives out there to assist you with that. We talked about all of the safety nets available to people but I also mentioned that there are some employment networks that you can work with that will pay you as you reach those timely progress goals. So it's a benefit to you if you're able to work, if your disability allows you to return to work and you're able to find a position that is a good fit for you, use these services to do that. This will give you - I'm sorry there's a weird clicking going on. Marlene, you're not muted? Ok. Use the services that are available to you, to help you to reach the goals and figure out, use those safety nets to see, can you return to work full time? Because if you can, it really is beneficial to you. And just remember, EXR, my favorite work incentive is going to be there for you years down the road if you're not able to keep working full time to help you get back on benefits without going through that reapplication process.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks so much Kendra and it is 4:30 but I do want to close with one more question and I'd like to ask both of you answer it. Marlene I'll start with you. Could you tell the audience what their next steps should be after attending this webinar?



>> Marlene Ulisky: After attending the webinar, is to review all of the information which is available. I would review it, I would call the Ticket to Work help line, I would see exactly where I stand if I have worked in the past, I would probably try to make an appointment with a benefits planner so I could see where I stand with regards to my benefits and I think the first step is always educating oneself. You need to know all of the facts because when you do go to work, you don't want any surprises. You want to know exactly where you're going on that road to work.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: And Kendra do you have anything to add?



>> Kendra Berry: I mean, I'm a little biased here because I work for a WIPA and I do benefits counseling. I really think it's a great place to start. Call the Ticket to Work help line. We've given you a little bit of information about a lot of things today. So, whether your question is about benefits, whether your question is what's in the end, who is my local vocational rehabilitation? Calling the Ticket to Work help line will be able to get you answers. So if I were going to make a first step, that would be it.



>> Jayme Pendergraft: Thanks so much. I would like to thank both of you for providing such a wonderful presentation today and I apologize that the slide is sideways as well, but I want to thank everyone for attending this afternoon's webinar. I do hope that we gave you some helpful information and that you will take those next steps towards work. And I do want to let everyone know that as soon as this webinar closes, a survey will pop up on your screen. If for some reason that does not happen, you can also visit www.choosework.net/surveys/whys and we would love to hear that information on what you thought of today's webinar. Thank you all, thank you Marlene and Kendra and thank you to Nakia in the background for all of the technical support. We hope you have a wonderful afternoon. Thank you.